Aikido Courses

Aikido in Sydney conducts regular short courses in aikido and related activities. These courses are introductory in nature and provide an overview of our aikido, self defence and weapons curricula. We provide demonstration and mini classes for schools, 1/2 day workshops and four-week courses.

You can do them at our place or if there are enough of you, we’ll come to you, including your workplace. Course content can include traditional aikido, personal protection, self defence, weapons, meditation, tumbling. After the courses many participants have continued to train and advance their understanding of aikido. Of course one course does not a master make!

Introduction to AikidoStart on the first Monday of every month with other like minded beginners.

Your introduction to the martial art of Aikido and Aiki Weapons in a traditional and cooperative atmosphere. The foundations of Aikido stem from both the samurai martial arts and meditation disciplines practiced by the men and women of feudal Japan. Aikido promotes and teaches the concepts of being in harmony with your opponents, rather than in conflict with them. Aikido practice develops flexibility, coordination, concentration, improved well-being and fitness. During the course you will learn traditional Aikido technique, basic self defence, ukemi (defensive tumbling), Ki training, breathing methods, relaxation, stretching exercises and dojo safety. On completion of a months training, students will be given the opportunity to be tested at an internationally recognised level. Full attendance is strongly encouraged but not mandatory.

Self Defence Saturday (sometimes we run these on a Sunday too)
Contrary to what we see on TV, Australia and Sydney are pretty safe places to work. Random street crime just isn’t all that random. Did you know that in 80% of sexual assaults, the assailant knows their victim? Many violent acts take place between friends and acquaintances, where risk factors like alcohol and drugs fuel a volatile situation. The good news for us all is that the chance of being randomly attacked is small. We need to equip ourselves with a ‘radar’ for reading situations and tools that can not only get us out of trouble early but also be appropriate for dealing with acquaintances, friends and relatives.
Unfortunately if your looking for ways to throw someone around the carpark or take on a mob of punks single-handedly this course probably isn’t for you. Our aim is to provide appropriate responses to keep ourselves and our families safe whilst getting on with the rest of our lives (rather than unleashing the warrior within). See more about what self defence is really about.

The sword and staff of the Samurai
This course introduces the martial art of Aikido in a traditional and cooperative atmosphere. The foundations of Aikido stem from both the samurai martial arts and meditation disciplines practiced by the men and women of feudal Japan. Aikido promotes and teaches the concepts of being in harmony with your opponents, rather than in conflict with them. Aikido practice develops flexibility, coordination, concentration, improved well-being and fitness.

This course will explore primarily the weapons training in aikido, in particular the study of the bokken (sword) and jo (staff). During the course you will learn traditional Aikido weapons techniques and be introduced to some aikido. All weapons practice is with wooden equivalents and the practice is carefully structured to avoid injury.

Course detail
Session will cover:-

correct posture for weapons training

correct holding of weapons

mind body co-ordination during striking

aikido techniques derived from weapons

major sword and staff weapons form

kumiwaza – paired practice with weapons

Aikido ‘art of peace’ schools programme
‘Let’s break the ice!’ This is an action-packed introduction to aikido which includes demonstration of simple techniques for students to try. It also establishes trust and respect for the art, each other and the instructor, an essential foundation that underpins all modules. And best of all it is a lot of fun!

Principles of Peace (50 mins)

Martial Mind (50 mins)

Martial Body (50 mins)

The Spirit of the Samurai (50 mins)

Personal Protection (50 mins)

Calming the Bully (50 mins)

Lessons from the Sword (50 mins)

Aiki Principles for Life’s Challenges (50 mins)

Feet First
Feet First is our program for people with restricted physical ability such as impaired mobility or stability due to illness, injury or just getting a little older. It’s a great entry point for people unsure of their physical capacity but keen to improve it nonetheless.

This is a science-based, graded development program using objective evidence to monitor your progress and provide reliable feedback. We developed this programme in conjunction with a local rehabilitation and physiotherapy practice. The primary goal is to empower you to interact with the world with improved balance, stability and mobility in your daily life through developing improved posture and core strength, and gently training your body at your own pace. This program is tailored to the individual’s abilities and objectives.

Feet First covers the basics of optimal movement in a graded way to develop strength, coordination and balance. By starting with the feet we build a firm foundation from which the basics of coordinated, stable movement can be built. Each one-hour session is based on preparatory exercises, movement basics and appropriate applications.

From these foundations our participants have been able to recover movement and range of motion they have not had for years, improved physical resilience and confidence in the outside world.

The basics of movement are applied to help develop skills for getting down and up off the ground and falling safely (falls are the number one risk factor for the elderly). You will develop improved balance and balance recovery as well as resilience to inadvertent collisions. Body and safety awareness are a tangible outcome from this program.

Some people will move on to other programs or activities, for those who are happy staying with Feet First we have beginning, intermediate and advanced courses.

Low Impact Martial Arts
Low impact martial arts is for the “wisdom warrior”, people keen to train in a martial tradition but not interested in big hits or high falls: people who want to be prepared but don’t need to prove it to themselves over and over. This program contains all the essence of aikido (the culture, the tradition, the authentic ‘aiki’) but removes high impact activities. We developed this programme in conjunction with a local rehabilitation and physiotherapy practice. This is a great way to begin your martial arts journey later in life or if you have some physical limitation. It’s also a great way to continue or restart your journey if you’re starting to think regular training is a bit much.